Japan's space agency and national broadcaster teamed up to develop a camera that will capture the first-ever ultra-high-definition images of Mars and its moons in proximity.
JAXA's Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) mission, expected to launch in 2024, aims to explore the origin and evolutionary process of the Red Planet and its moons, Phobos and Deimos. By probing the Martian Sphere, scientists hope to solve the mysteries of planetary formation in the Solar System and improve technology for future exploration—including round-trips between Earth and Mars.
None of that would be possible, though, without the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and its Super Hi-Vision Camera. Placed aboard the MMX spacecraft, NHK's shooter will snap photos at regular intervals, sending partial images back to Earth while storing the original data in MMX's return capsule, scheduled for reentry in 2029.
"JAXA and NHK aim to visualize the actual behavior of the spacecraft with the Super Hi-Vision Camera, providing a high level of reality by combining the 4K/8K images and MMX's flight data," according to an agency press release. "These can also be used for the operation of the spacecraft."
The Japanese organizations have been working together to deliver images of space development since 1992, broadcasting from the Endeavour Space Shuttle, Kaguya lunar orbiter, International Space Station, and Hayabusa2 asteroid probe.
"By filming MMX's mission in the Martian system, 300 million kilometers away from Earth, with the newly developed Super Hi-Vision Camera, JAXA and NHK will work together to convey the appeal of a new horizon that has never been seen in detail before, to many people in a vivid and inspiring way," the agency said.